Jhené Aiko blessed us with her new R&B album Chilombo, which was released on March 6, 2020. The third studio album mixes sound of R&B along free-flowing melodies that give a jam session feel. The album was received well by fans as the album sat at number two on the Billboard Top 100 Chart for two weeks, and number 1 on Billboard Top R&B Album Chart. During a quarantine style GQ interview, Jhené speaks about the album and how she used her creative process to incorporate certain sounds in the project, including sound bowls.
During an Instagram live stream they discussed Jhené as an artist and how her body of work was effected during such a life changing global event. “I had been feeling probably for the past 8 months, when I really dove in to the sound healing we started to learn about it and really incorporate it into the music. My whole perspective changed about music and sound.” stated Jhené. “I just feel like even more so feel the need to continue with this work that I am doing and go even deeper into the sound healing because its something that we all have access to that we can use to our advantage.”
There are sounds all around us that send vibrations into our body. Sounds bowls have been used for centuries for healing and meditation purposes. They create a range of sounds to restore the vibratory frequencies of out-of-harmony parts of the body, mind, and soul. She opened up about how she incorporated sound bowls in her album. “While I recording Chilombo I was really diving into sound healing and studying sound healing and the chakra system.” She continued, “Any they found that certain tones, certain frequencies resonate with different parts of your body. And so these bowls are tuned to different keys and they’re in different notes that resonate with different parts of your body on the cellular level.” She explained how she’s still learning and how its “magical” to her.
Jhené has always been a big advocate for keeping spirituality strong for yourself and loved ones especially in time of despair. “This has really sat everybody down I feel like. I really have more time to focus on my studying, the sound healing and focus on my daughter and myself and really making sure I stay strong spiritually and mentally.”
The album is a great listen not only because the songs are catchy, but it brings you to a better part of yourself through sound.
